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Although it is unknown when the first windmills originated, it was probably in Persia, now Iran, for the purpose of grinding grain.
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The first horizontal axis windmills are used in Europe for grinding grain.
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The Dutch had began utilising wind power for pumping water and as mills and the French used windmills for irrigation purposes.
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Windmills brought to Canada by French settlers, mainly to grind grain.
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By late 1700s windmills supply Europe with an estimated 1500 megawatts of power.
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Windmills used in America to pump water for farms and ranches. Early farm windmills used blades made from simple wooden slats.
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The first windmill created for producing electricity was built in July 1887, by the Scottish Professor James Blyth in Glasgow, Scotland.
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Danish inventor Poul La Cour develops first wind turbines to incorporate modern aerodynamic design principles,which had a capacity of 25 kilowatts and were used throughout Denmark. However, with the development of large fossil fuel powered steam plants in Denamark, wind turbine operations were put out of business.
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1900s - the Dutch had 2500 turbines that are estimated to have produced, at their peak, 30 megawatts.
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The first vertical-axis rotor is invented by Frenchman George Darrieus.
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As a result of the fall in fossil fuel prices after World War II, the power grids extended into rural areas - as a result interest in wind energy falls dramatically.
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he world’s first megawatt wind turbine was built. It was connected to the power grid in Castleton, Vermont USA.
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Advanced horizontal axis turbine designs are developed in places such as Germany, consisting of fibreglass and plastic blades with variable pitch blades thus increasing efficiency.
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The 1973 Oil crisis creates a new interest in large wind turbines and as a result government-sponsored renewable energy research programs start in countries such as Germany, Sweden, Canada, Great Britain and the United States.
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The commercial wind turbine market focus changes from small machines (1-25 kilowatts in size) to the development of large wind turbines (50+ kilowatts in size).
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The world's first offshore wind farm begins operating off the coast of Denmark. Its is a five-megawatt plant.
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In 2001 the wind energy generating capacity increases by 37 percent to approximately 24,800 megawatts. The global wind industry makes about $7 billion in business.
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United States’ wind generating capacity exceeds 4,600 megawatts.
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United States and Europe lead the development and installation of wind power. Germany leads the world in terms of wind energy with more than 14,000 megawatts installed. And Denmark had the world’s highest proportion of electricity generated by wind with more then 20 percent.
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The global wind energy generation capacity is more than 39,000 megawatts.